Contents

Plot

In the year Apotheosis 41, Earth is currently home to superhumans and paranormal phenomena of all kinds, from aliens and magical girls to ghosts and transforming robots. However, official knowledge of these beings is officially kept under wraps by the governments of the world. The Japanese government has quietly set up the "Super Population Research Laboratory," or the "Superhuman Bureau," to keep track of all superhuman beings in the country and eliminate them if they pose a threat to humanity. In the present, Bureau member Jiro Hitoyoshi finds himself recruiting new superhumans for the Bureau in the course of his job. However, five years later in Apotheosis 46, Jiro turns into a vigilante on the run from the Bureau while the rest of its members deal with the consequences of their earlier actions.

Characters

Superhuman Bureau

The male protagonist of the series, the point-man of the Superhuman Bureau and the only real human of the group, though in episode 4, it is revealed that he has a superhuman ability himself, the ability to produce and control large crimson flames from his arm. These flames tend to burn anything they come in contact with though he tends to lose control over it so he barely uses it except for emergencies. He drives a silver-plated super car that can transform into a quadrupedal mech named "Equus."

A magical girl with an interest in shounen manga, especially for its fictional portrayals of magical girls. She has feelings for Jiro. Uru mentions that Kikko is actually a demon from another dimension who gains power by indirectly forming some sort of contract with those she saves.

A half-human half-yokai who has lived with Jiro since they were young and whose powers include controlling birds and shape-shifting. She has feelings for Jiro and hates it when Kikko gets close to him. She is also the only one who can restore the locks holding Jiro's flames at bay without getting scorched to a crisp.

A ghost who can change shape at will and phase through inorganic objects. Loves playing childish pranks on people. Stuck forever with a child's body and personality. Jiro recommends him in joining the superhuman bureau.

A Professor who serves as the technical expert of the Superhuman Bureau. Though his knowledge is mainly in physics and robotics, he also has studied enough anthropology to deal with organic superhumans.

Usually called "Mr. Jaguar" Yoshimura is a man from the 25th century who was sent by the Time Patrol to destroy the Advocates of Free History. His powers include transformation into a jaguar and stopping time using his pocket watch. He is also a genius physicist and created Equus. He decided that he could make the future better if he changed the past, thus leaving the Time Patrol and forming IQ.

A formerly-human detective who was killed during a case, his personality was implanted in the body of an android by an unnamed scientist. Raito is the only detective in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police who works on superhuman cases, though he finds himself stymied by the Superhuman Bureau as they keep covering up his evidence.

Superhumans

A police officer whom fuses with a crash landed alien, Grosse Augen. He used the alien's power to fight giant monsters and outer space threats, while sharing his own life to ensure Augen's safety. However, when the Superhuman Bureau sees him as a threat due to his size, Hitoyoshi was sent to kill him but in reality he used ordered Akira to give his life to Grosse Augen for the alien to leave this planet while taking an unconscious S Planeterian as a substitute, allowing him to fight as a superhero once again. In Apotheosis 46, he assisted Hitoyoshi after he was on the run from the Superhuman Bureau.

An alien invader and Grosse Augen's nemesis. He was defeated by Grosse Augen with the help of Equus. He was shrunken and rendered unconscious, allowing Akira to use his body while Grosse Augen return to his home planet. His body has blue markings, which changed to red when being possessed by Akira.

A race of prehistoric bugs from the ancient years, they maintained their existence in the modern era and signed a contract with humanity to reside the forest. But after corrupted politicians ordered the deforestation of their homes, they sought vengeance on the politicians until Fuurouta threw a canister of ancient virus, successfully halted their attack but in the end, this race was endangered.

The queen of the Tartarus Bugmen, one day she was caught by a bug salesman and nearly sold under the price of 100,000 Yen until Fuurouta rescued her. She is able to take a human form of a young girl, which later changed into an adult woman seven years later. She sparked an interest on Fuurouta and befriended him but after he killed the majority of the Bugmen, she tried to take revenge seven years later in Apotheosis 48, though Hiyotoshi's interference halted her assaults. Despite having ceased her vengeance, she is incapable of befriending Fuurouta due to his age and appearance.

Development

Bones first unveiled the project on 1 July 2015. The series is directed by Seiji Mizushima and written by Shō Aikawa.[1][3] Yoshiyuki Ito provides character designs and animation direction; Noizi Ito, Hekiru Hikawa, and Ryō Hirao are in charge of character creation and concept design; and Kanetake Ebikawa, Takayuki Yanase, Toshiaki Ihara, and Hideyuki Matsumoto are in charge of SF concept design. Ken Ohtsuka is the series mechanical animation director, and Hiroki Matsumoto provides the series art design.[6][7] Masafumi Mima is the series' sound director.[8] Anime Consortium Japan will co-produce the series.[10]

Episode list

No.

Title

Original air date

1

"The Witch Girl of Tokyo""Tōkyō no Majo"(東京の魔女)

4 October 2015

While working as a waitress at a cafe, Kikko Hoshino is asked by a man named Jiro Hitoyoshi to do a job for him, preventing a top Japanese scientist named Professor Onda from selling research secrets to a corporate spy. Strangely enough, on the day of the deal, the supposed spy is seen giving Onda a package instead of taking one from him. Even so, Kikko stops Onda from leaving, as the spy reveals himself to be an alien from Planet S. Kikko reveals herself to be a magical girl, and teleports outside with the package. However, the alien follows and grows giant-size until the giant superhuman Grosse Augen appears and vanishes with the alien. With Kikko and Jiro's help, Grosse Augen defeats the alien, but Jiro tracks down his alter-ego anyway and confronts him. Grosse Augen turns out to be an alien borrowing a Japanese policeman's body as it would have died otherwise, but the strain is supposedly killing them both. Jiro appears to take Grosse Augen into an alleyway and vaporize him.

The scene flashes to a point five years later, where Jiro managed to help the alien Grosse Augen reach his home planet and revive the policeman in the body of the defeated S Planetarian. As a result, the Superhuman Bureau made Jiro a target, and he refuses to go with Kikko as he escapes with the policeman.

2

"Inside the "Black Fog""""Kuroi Kiri" no Naka de"(『黒い霧』の中で)

11 October 2015

During the opening of a department store, a ghost named Fuurouta plays a prank on a class trip, accidentally freeing a prized green beetle from its cage, as a mysterious black fog rolls through the area. Shortly after the incident, the black fog settles on the Japanese Diet building as the Superhuman Bureau restrains Fuurouta, unsure of what to do with him. While escaping from captivity, Fuurouta runs into a strange girl named Campe and offers to be friends with her. Meanwhile, Jiro finds the corpses of Japanese Public Security superhumans as they were defeated by the Tartaros Bugmen from inside the black fog. Fuurouta overhears Professor Hitoyoshi describe how he has revived an ancient virus to kill the Tartaros Bugmen, and the next day he offers to help the Bureau kill them in exchange for letting him join. After taking the virus, Fuurouta pockets the green bug from before, then tosses the virus container like a bug bomb, killing the Tartaros Bugmen and dissipating the black fog. Later, Jiro casts the deciding vote to let Fuurouta join the Bureau.

Five years later, Fuurouta is attacked by a grown-up Campe, who turned out to be the green bug he rescued from before. However, after his actions she became the last of the Tartaros Bugmen alive while the politicians who destroyed their forest habitat went unpunished. Jiro appears and talks Campe down from attacking Fuurouta. As she leaves, Fuurouta cries that the black-and-white world he thought he knew became more complicated.

3

"An Iron Couple""Tekkotsu no Hito"(鉄骨のひと)

18 October 2015

Haneda Airport recovers from what seems like a terrorist bomb attack, though no threat or demand was sent. Detective Shiba suspects superhuman involvement, but all the evidence is taken from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police by the Superhuman Bureau, so Shiba tries following a lead to Yatsuka Heavy Industries. Along the way, Shiba meets a girl named Mieko, but quickly discovers that she is a robot as the Superhuman Bureau intervenes and Shiba is caught in an explosion. While Shiba recovers at the Bureau, Professor Hitoyoshi mentions that Mieko was the "female" half of a human-looking robot pair, programmed to seek out a "male" counterpart to form a large explosive in enemy territory. Jiro wants to capture Mieko alive, but Shiba and others at the Bureau want the robot dead before she explodes in a populated area. Despite Jiro's efforts, Shiba takes matters into his own hands, but Mieko decides to jump into a nearby reservoir and self-destruct without killing anyone.

Five years later, Shiba attacks a military truck escorting a male prisoner and frees him. He discovered that the man was the male robot of the pair, and that Mieko did not actually self-destruct but merely slept at the bottom of a reservoir before it was drained for the sake of urban development. Shiba commands the male robot to merge with Mieko for the sake of his terrorist plot, until Jiro appears and inserts a chip into her frame. As the male and female robots merge, they decide not to follow Shiba's command. Enraged, Shiba beats up the merged robot, and then turns his anger on Jiro.

Shortly after the incident with Grosse Augen, beast (kaiju) attacks are on the rise across Japan, though there are ample numbers of superhumans around to deal with them. Fuurouta discovers that one of his friends is secretly feeding a tiny beast named "GaGon," and through him the Superhuman Bureau meet up with "Beastly Radio Wave," a small group of peaceful beast enthusiasts. However, Jiro soon discovers that the radio group is actually using GaGon to clone several giant beasts for their own purposes. One of the beasts grabs Jiro, forcing him to unleash the locks holding in his own superhuman power as he burns the radio station to a crisp.

5

"Japan "Beast" History, Part 2""Nippon "Kaijū"-shi Gohen"(日本『怪獣』史 後篇)

1 November 2015

The Superhuman Bureau infiltrates a nearby college as students plan to march in support of the beasts and against what they see as their cruel use as weapons by the bigger countries. However, the protesters are being manipulated by other beast fanatics. While reviving an American-sent beast using GaGon's cells, one of them injects Jiro with a similar drug that causes him to go on a violent rampage in Equus, later stopped by the revived beast, MegaGon. As MegaGon leads the protesters through the streets, the heads of the Superhuman Bureau devise a plan to secretly run a train filled with explosives into the beast. Kikko, afraid of the possible collateral damage, tries to stop MegaGon before the train crashes, but Daishi possesses the oil-filled cars himself and crashes them into MegaGon, sending him into a mindless rage. As Jiro faces him with Equus, he starts questioning the true nature of the beasts.

A quartet of comedic rock stars called "Mountain Horse" suddenly gain superhuman powers after listening to a rock concert they opened for. The powers themselves are not very strong, but enough that they get noticed by Fuurouta of the Superhuman Bureau, and an agent named Fugimoto. After overhearing Fugimoto's plan to sell chocolate with a secret anti-superhuman chemical inside, the group decides to infiltrate the warehouse and destroy the chocolate before it gets distributed, though they have to fight against a giant security robot and even a rival superhuman rock band. After one of them gets killed in the fight, the band successfully destroys the chocolate, and keeps one sample as insurance against Fugimoto. Despite Fuurouta and Jiro's offer the remaining band members decide not to join the Superhuman Bureau, and instead continue going on stage as a comedy group.